Precast burial vault



Aug. 7, 1934. .1. N. M NABB ET AL. 1,969,41

PRECAST BURIAL VAULT Filed April 25. 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1'5 INVENTORS f3} 10 James N. MGNahbg; Ralph E. cowau z We'llzam E. Crazglow Z0 :g ,zs. 771 M Wm ATTORNEY.

Aug. 7, 1934. J. N, MCNABB ET AL 1,969,410

' PRECAST BURIAL VAULT Filed April 25, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I .50 49 FIG. 4

of 41y 411 7 NVENTORS James N. M9 abb Ralph E- C'oWan BY W'z'llz'am E. CraigloW A TTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 7, 1934 UNITED STATES;

eague;

PRECAST BURI-AL VAULT James N. McNabb, Ralph E. Cowan, and William E; Craiglow, Wichita, Kans.

Application April 23, 1932, Serial No. 607,108

g Claims.

described and in whichthe a'ir'therein'. iscaused withair circulationopenings'35, 36, 37 and 38i to circulate through the various compartments-by reason of natural heat, as from the sun, being applied to the exposed top of the vault; A still further object of our invention is to provide a burial vault having a bottom and side Walls made the vault which is pickedup from the body therein andin turn is discharged from the top by evaporation byreason of external heat-such as produced by the sun. A still'further object is to provide a burial vault which will dispose of moisture introduced into the vault by placing abod'y -therein, and permanently preserving the body in a mummified condition. 7

All these, and other objects" will be more fully described and explained as this descriptionpro gresses.

Now, referring to the drawings, Fig 1 is a plan view of our improved burial vault. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken along the line II,II- in Fig; 1. Fig 3 is a transverse sectional view as seen from the'1ine-IIIIII in Fig. 2; Fig;

with the top or cover removed: Fig. 5 -is-a sectional View as seen looking downward from the line VV'in Fig; 2'. Fig. 6, is an enlargeddetail sectional view' as seen from the line VIVI in- Fig. 4. Fig. 7' is an enlarged sectional-detail view as seen from the line VIIVII in Fig. 1;

In the drawings is shown; a vault; preferably made of cast concrete, and havingintegral walls 10, 11, 12 and 13 and bottom 114% These elements 10, 11, 12 and 1a. and bottom l4' are made of waterproof concrete, or of concrete overcoated with. water. proofing material. It will be understood the concrete in the elements 10," 11, 12, .13

andl4 may be reinforced-with any'suitable. reinforcing materialsuch asmetal'rodswire mesh or the like- At 16, 17, 18, 19', 20,21, 22, 23, 24. and

25' are support elements on which rest a pair of 4 is a plan view of our improved burial vault of the cover 52 is fashioned to receive and loosely' (Cl. 727) I of itheedges of the slabs 26 and 27 are cutaway so that-the corners and central portions ofthe: slabs 26 and 2'7 will rest on the supports 16,17; 18', 19,.20, 21, 22', 23, 24 and 25 with the corners of the. slabs 26 and 27 fitting loosely in the. corners: and against the sides of the vault and leaving-aircirculation openings 28", 29,30, 31, 32, 33. an'df34 between .the' slabs themselves and"- also. between the slabs and the side and end walls of the: Vault. The: slabs 26 and 27 are further'provided In the" interior side of'the wall 10 -and near-the top thereof is a continuousnotch or 'groove 39'- which is adapted to receive and support one-"edge ofa compartment partition slab or a plurality of slabs 40 and 41. The opposite edges of thesl'ab's' 40 and 41" rests-on a shoulder 42-which is" post tioned in the interior side of thewall' 12' and is opposite" and parallelwith the groove or notch 39i The portion 43-of the wall 12-abovethe shoulder 42'is circled or cut away'so that the edge ofthe compartment partition slabs 40 and 4l -may be rocked downward to bear on and besupported on;- the shoulder 42; The compartment partition slabs' 40' and 41 are made sufii'cie'ntly short' that they may be placed in position in the: vault and leave an aircirculation space or opening 44- between the slabs andalso'a similar air circulation space 5 or opening 45am 46 at either end of 'the vault between the end walls of the vaultand the a'd jacent compartment partitionslab 40 or-41'. "At 40 and 41 1 are holesthrough the slabs-40 and 41 provided for additional air circulation passages.-

The upper' edge of' the walls 10, 11, 12' and" 13 are provided with a-continuous shoulder 47 and aportion 48 projecting upwardly above'the' shoulder 47, the upper face of which is provided with a continuous groove 49. It will be understood that while the groove 49 is "shown to be circular in form, it maybe square, -V'shapejdior 7 any other desired shape.

At intervals around the top of the'walls' 10, 11, 12 and" l'3'are holes; or pockets 50, the purpose of which will be later explained. In the interior face of the walls-l0f 11, 12*and 13 just below the upper edge'ofthe portion 48 is a continuous notch or groove 51. I At 52is a top cover for the vault. This cover has a convex top surface and is provided with a tablet or marker base 53. The bottom edge PATENT OFFICE;

the portion 54 is a continuous notch or groove 55 which, when the top cover 52 is placed on the top of the walls of the vault, registers with the Y corresponding groove 51 in the walls of the vault.

At 56 is an anchor cast in the cover 52 and is adapted to enter the holes or pockets 50 in the .walls 10, 11, 12 and 13, when the cover 52 is placed on the vault, as a means of permanently locking the cover on the vault as will be later 0 described.

As above stated, the top cover 52 is made in a convex shape which will shed water. 1

In preparing our improved vault for use, it is set in the ground so that the grade line 57 of 15 the ground is at a point approximately midway between the top edge of the cover 52 and the joint between the cover and the walls of the vault. The cover 52 and the compartment division slabs 40 and 41 are removed. The casket;

A containing the body is then placed in the vault and is supported on. the ribs 28 and 29, leaving an air space 58 between the bottom of the casket and the slabs 26 and 27. Then one edge of the compartment partition slabs 40 and -41 is placed in the groove 39 and the opposite edges of the slabs are rocked downward until they rest on the shoulder 42 and the slabs are in the dotted position 41a, care being taken to leave the space 44'between the slabs and the spaces .45 and 46 between the slabs and theend walls 11 and 13 of the vault. After having placed the slabs 40 and 41 in position as above described, the joints between the slabs 40 and 41 and the walls 10 and 12 are flushed preferably :with a rich cement mixture and allowed to set, whereupon the slabs and 41 and the ribs 403: and 41m function as a stiffening element for the upper portion of the side walls 10 and 12 against earth pressure. The vault is now pre- 40": pared to receive the top cover 52 by placing preferably'a plentiful amount of a rich-mixture of cement on the shoulder 47 and the upturned face of the portion-48 filling thegroove 49 and the holes or pockets 50. The cover 52 is now placed on the vault with the elements 56 entering the holes or pockets 50 and the cover fitting over the walls as shown in Fig. '7, the weight of said cover forcing any excess amount of cement on the top of the walls to fill in the joint be- 50 tween thecover and the walls and fill the grooves 51 and 55 and perfectly lock and seal the cover 52 to the walls'10,11, 12 and 13.

The body in the casket contains an appreciable amount of water or moisture. The process of 553disposing of this moisture is as follows: The air, sealed within the vault will absorb and pick up the moisture as it is slowly discharged from the body. The sun beating down on the cover 52 causes the cover to become heated, thereby fillflheating the compartment between the cover 52 and the slabs 40* and 41 which causes the air in the compartment containing the casket and the air in the compartment between the slabs 26 and 2'7 and the bottom 14 of the vault to icirculate into the upper compartment whereupon the moisture in the air is absorbed into the cover 52 and evaporated away into the outside air. under the heat oi? the sun. Upon the cooling of the cover 52, such as at night time, the air Midrops from the upper compartment into the lower compartments and the process above described is again repeated. This process continually'repeats itself until all moisture has been removed stood that all the cast elements of our vault may be re-inforced with any suitable form of re-inforcing material such as iron rods, wire mesh and the like.

There may be instances where it is desirable to bury the vault completely under the ground in which case a moisture absorbing feature different from that above described may be desirable. This feature may be obtained by filling or partially filling the lower compartment of the vault with an antiseptic moisture absorbing material such as slacked lime or the like. The partition slabs 26 and 2'7 are replaced with a solid slab which fits against the side and end walls of the vault and after said slab is placed inthe vault it is preferably sealed therein by slushing the jointsbetween the slab and the end and side walls with'any suitable material such as a rich cement mixture, asphalt and the like. The slab may be provided with a suitable number of any desirable type of moisture seals or openings to admit any accumulation of moisture from the intermediate chamber to pass into the lower chamber.

Such modifications of our invention may be 101) employed as lie within the scope of the appended: claims, without departing from the spirit. and intention of our invention.

Now having fully explained our invention, what we claim as new and desire-to secure by. Letters Patent is;.

1. In a burial vault, said Vault having a lower, intermediate and upper compartment, partitions between said compartments, the partition between the lower and intermediate compartments being supported on block like elements positioned in the corners at the floor of the vault, the partitions between the intermediate and upper compartments being supported on one side in anotch or groove in one of the side walls of the vault, the opposite sideof said partition being supported on a shoulder in the opposite side wall of said vault, the portion of the side wall of said vault, above said shoulder being circled so that the partition may be installed'by first placing one edge in said notch or groove in one wall and then rocking the partition slab or slabsdownward until their opposite edge or edges rest on the shoulder in the opposite wall, ventilation openings from each compartment to its adjacent compartment, a cover for said vault, and means for the air tight sealing of said cover to said vault.

2. In a pre-cast burial vault, a vault having an upper, an intermediate and a lower compartment, said lower compartment functioning as a container for an anticeptic moisture absorbent material, means for permitting a circulation of air between the upper and intermediate compartments, anair tight division between the intermediate compartment and' the lower compartment and means in said air tight division for admitting the passage of moisturefrom the intermediate compartment to the lower compartment, as and for the purpose described.

3. In a burial vault, said vault having anintegral bottom, side and end walls and a separate cover therefor, the upper edges of said walls being deformed for a part of a means for sealing said cover on said vault, the lower edges of said cover being deformed to fit over, around and between the upper edges of the walls of said vault, a continuous groove in the inner side of said walls and adjacent the top edge of the walls, an inner depending portion on said cover and acontinuous groove therein, Said'groove being so positioned 150 that when the cover is placed on the vault the two grooves will be in alignment with and opposite each other so that in assembling the cover on the vault a liberal amount of a cement mixture may be placed on the upper edges of the vault walls so that when the cover is placed thereon the cement will be forced into the said grooves and when set will form a permanent seal between the walls of the vault and the cover thereon.

4. In a burial vault as described in claim 3, and strut elements at the top portion of and between the said walls of the vault substantially as shown and described.

5. In a burial vault, said vault comprising an 

